Om Malik has some interesting analysis of Google and its stance on Net Neutrality. The genesis of the story is a Wall Street Journal article discussing Google and how it is looking to peer its caching devices directly with network operators. This would allow Google's content to get to you faster than other content and would reduce the bandwidth requirements for carriers.

What is Malik's take on Google after reading this story?
Given how close President-elect Obama is to the current Google management, I can only fear the worst.

I am deeply saddened by the fact that the Bush administration pressured the FCC to cancel a meeting on a vote which would have put free broadband in the hands of hundreds of millions of Americans. This is my opinion is perhaps one of the most damaging things the Bush administration has done to date and it is shocking that they don't have the capacity to see the potential of giving free wireless internet to all.

I guess this is what happens when you have a person who really doesn't use the internet in charge of the country. It's scary really.

More calls, more CEOs, more problems. There seem to be more and more companies coming out of the woodwork who now realize they need to focus on sales and marketing in 2009 for their survival. It seems these companies founded themselves for the sole purpose of being sold to Cisco and other solid companies and now those dreams have slowed or in some cases vanished.

Yes, the big tech companies are still purchasing but if they don't pick you up now, there are limited opportunities for future funding.

I get these calls and all I can think is "You're waiting until the middle of the recession to start thinking about how you get customers?" I could say more but the sheer lunacy of the whole situation doesn't allow me to articulate without peppering my writing with obscenities.

For those of us in telecom and tech, there is obvious concern about where the economy is headed - just like any other industry. The difference for us is we have seen a recent bubble burst and don't have the excess in our markets which other markets do. In fact in 2000, the dotcom bubble burst in March and the telecom bubble in November.

Most CEOs I speak with in our industry tell me tech and communications are among the best industries to be in for 2009 and beyond.

Michael Dinan has written a great article on the AWS-3 clash between FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and various government officials. It contains some salient quotes from me. I have mixed emotions on this matter as I want in no way to hurt wireless providers or equipment manufacturers.

On the other hand I see massive potential in having free wireless internet for all to use. This could create an immense productivity leap we can't even fathom today.

Many people in our government are against free internet access for the masses.

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time filming my opinions on the latest news in the TMC Newsroom and didn't get time to blog at all. Rest assured, I was sharing my opinions - but in this case on camera and not PC. Sadly it still takes time to produce videos so hopefully by today; all or most of this content will be available.

Perhaps the most shocking news I discussed yesterday is the Nortelbankruptcy exploration first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

While many of you were busy in the malls this past weekend or trying to find the best price on that new digital camera yesterday on Cyber Monday, the dedicated team of designers and programmers here at TMC worked day and night and night and day to bring you a new look and feel.

Over the past years, many of you have told me that you love to come to TMCnet on a daily basis and the hundreds of stories and blog entries we write on a daily basis contain everything you need to navigate the telecom and tech worlds. At the same time, many of you have told us the interface TMCnet has looks busy. Others have told me it is not clear that 50-100 writers contribute to TMCnet on a daily/weekly basis.

Our new redesign is meant to adress all of these great requests and we hope you enjoy the new TMCnet.

One last point... Thanks to the 2-3 million communications and technology decision makers who visit TMCnet monthly and thanks to the TMC team for doing such a great job on this redesign.

Cisco is taking extraordinary measures to cut costs and has had its first ever 4-day shut down to conserve money. Generally this is a good thing to do but in this case, investors are nervous and not acting rationally and the stock is don almost 6% so far today. There is obviously continuing deterioration in world financial markets and Cisco's move is smart.

What is not mentioned in this report is the fact that this is the first time in my memory that Cisco is in a macro environment where little to no hiring is being done. So shuttering plants worldwide does not lead to mass defections to other sectors which are hiring.

This is perhaps one of the few silver linings in a dark cloud.

Om Malik has salient comments on the matter and points to a lack of 2009 visibility.